By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 9 Jul: It has been decided to replace or repair 74 bridges in the state which are in dilapidated condition or have crossed their prescribed age limit. For this, the government has sanctioned an amount of Rs 264.7 crore under the World Bank funded U-Prepair project. To begin with 64 out of a total of 74 bridges will be replaced. But at the same time, a proposal has been submitted by the State PWD Department before the state government for replacement or repair of 74 such bridges in all, at an estimated cost of Rs 622 crore.
Official sources claim that the state government is working seriously towards an effective disaster management mitigation objective. For this, under the Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project (UDRP) in the first phase taken up with the help of the World Bank, several works have been completed and some projects are underway, while in the second phase the U-Prepare project has been started. Under this, a project has been started to improve the health of bridges. This project includes those bridges which had been declared dangerous in the safety audit conducted by the government in December last year.
The World Bank funded project is due to be completed over next five years. Recently, a High Powered Committee (HPC) constituted under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Dr SS Sandhu had given a green signal to the project. Under the project, repair of damaged bridges, construction of new bridges and construction of missing link bridges is to be carried out. Bridges damaged in disasters have been taken on priority in the project. So far tenders have been issued for nine bridges, while tenders have been invited for 28 other bridges. Apart from this, the process of appointment of consultant for other bridges is going on.
In all 74 bridges are proposed to be repaired at a cost of Rs 622 crore. They include 17 bridges in Chamoli, 10 bridges in Uttarkashi, , 8 bridges n Bageshwar, 8 bridges in Champawat, 7 bridges in Pithoragarh, 7 bridges in Almora, 5 bridges in Pauri, 3 bridges in Nainital, 2 bridges in Dehradun, 1 bridge in Haridwar and 2 bridges in Rudraprayag will be replaced or repaired.
According to state PWD sources, currently financial approval has been received for 64 bridges from HPC under the World Bank funded U-Prepair project in the state. The department has submitted the details of the estimated expenditure amount for 74 bridges. As soon as the tender process is completed, the work of improving or replacing the bridges will be started.
It may be recalled that in December 2022, 36 bridges were found unsafe in the safety audit conducted on the instructions of the government. During that time a safety audit of 3262 bridges of five zones was carried out. The government had then stated that the bridges which can be improved technically will be repaired. After that, some bridges were also closed forever due to dilapidation beyond repairs.
